What Happens if a Practice Cancels My Booking Late?
✅ Short answer If a practice cancels your booking less than 18 hours before the shift start time - a late cancellation - you receive 100% of the agreed booking fee. Exactly as if you had worked the shift. Payment is processed automatically. You do not need to do anything. |
How Late Cancellation Payment Works
A late cancellation is any booking a practice cancels less than 18 hours before the shift start time.
When a practice cancels inside the 18-hour window, Airlocum processes your full payment automatically. It appears in your Stripe account on the same timeline as a completed shift — within 5 days of the cancellation for card payments, or 18 days for invoice.
This protection exists because a late cancellation affects you the same way a no-show affects a practice — you have set aside the time, potentially turned down other work, and made travel arrangements.
Scenario | What you receive |
Practice cancels less than 18 hours before shift | 100% of agreed booking fee, paid automatically. |
Practice cancels more than 18 hours before shift | No cancellation payment. Sufficient notice has been given. |
Practice cancels within 30 minutes of you accepting | No cancellation payment. The 30-minute grace period allows practices to correct genuine mistakes (accidental bookings, duplicate requests) without penalty. |
The 30-Minute Grace Period for Practice Users
If a practice cancels within 30 minutes of you accepting the booking, no cancellation payment applies to the practice — even if the shift is less than 18 hours away.
This exception exists to allow practices to correct genuine errors such as accidental double-bookings or requests sent to the wrong locum, without the cancellation payment triggering automatically. Late cancellations outside this 30-minute window are always paid in full. It is a narrow window and applies only in the first 30 minutes after acceptance.
💡 Example You accept a booking at 9:00 AM for a shift starting at 4:00 PM the same day. At 9:20 AM the practice cancels — within 30 minutes of your acceptance. No payment applies. At 10:30 AM the practice cancels — outside the 30-minute window and less than 18 hours before the shift. You receive 100% of the booking fee. |